Alabama files suit against US govt. over refugee settlement
Authorities in the US State of Alabama have filed a lawsuit against the federal government in a bid to force it to provide more information on the settlement of refugees from Syria and other countries in the state.
The lawsuit, filed in the US district court in Birmingham, accused the administration of President Barack Obama of failing to consult state officials about any refugees to be settled in there, in violation of the federal Refugee Act of 1980.
Alabama’s Republican Governor Robert Bentley is among more than two dozen US governors who have sought to block Syrian refugees from the state.
"The process and manner in which the Obama administration and the federal government are executing the Refugee Reception Program is blatantly excluding the states," he said in a statement.
Bentley said the White House has not answered three letters that he sent seeking information about plans to place refugees in Alabama, Reuters reported.
A judge last month dismissed the state's request for a restraining order, calling the evidence presented "largely speculative hearsay."
The latest lawsuit follows a legal challenge filed by Texas, another Republican-led state, to stop the immediate entry of nine Syrian refugees.
The court action, which names the heads of multiple federal agencies as defendants, seeks to force the government to disclose information on each refugee, including medical history, and to certify that the individual does not pose a security risk.
Alabama is intensifying its fight after Republican Governor Nathan Deal in neighboring Georgia on Monday rescinded his own executive order seeking to stop the resettlement of Syrian refugees, because the state's attorney general ruled he lacked the authority to do so.
The US Department of Justice declined to comment on the Alabama case.
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